What words are left? If we as a nation are willing to allow mass causality gun crimes to go unanswered with legislation that could make a meaningful difference in the lives of our people, what words are left to share with those killed at the social services center in San Bernardino, CA today? Do we share with them the same words of comfort and promises of action that were promised to the children massacred at Sandy Hook or the young college students murdered in Roseburg, Ore. earlier this fall? That fact that people are still able to purchase weapons of war, some of which were appropriately banned under the now-expired Assault Weapons Ban, is a moral failure on the part of our nation.

P.S. This is illegal.

School shootings are a common occurrence these days. The shooting in Oregon shook America... but not enough to do anything about it.

While only a small proportion of the gun deaths in the United States occur on campuses, such events make it starkly evident that higher education must attend to the role of guns in American culture and bring the force of our roles to bear against the violence that is endemic in our country.